Bullsman89

When recently travelling in First on Cathay Pacific on SFO-HKG, I heard a passenger behind me mention that he bought an economy ticket, used Asia Miles to upgrade to business and than paid the fare difference between business and first. Is this type of "double upgrade" possible on American where you use miles or an eVIP to upgrade between economy and business and then pay the fare difference between business and first? Thanks!

tom911

No. Your only hope would be an operational upgrade up to F if business is oversold, and those tend to go by elite status, and are pretty rare.

1/4MM@20

Sometimes (very occasionally) AA will offer paid upgrades at check-in. I have only ever seen this offered at international locations (London, Tokyo).

Last time I flew NRT-DFW, bought cheap coach ticket and upgraded to J with a VIP. Then paid $600 to upgrade to F at check-in.

Not sure if I was supposed to be able to upgrade having already upgraded to J.

But it was sweet

DataPlumber

FWIW, When CX does sell the J->F upgrade on the day of departure, it's reported not to be cheap. Conventional wisdom on the CX forum was that the cash UG price was $1250 USD oneway.

techgirl

It used to be possible (although I'm not sure how "legal" it was - often done under that old "favors and waivers" system that disappeared about five years ago) but I haven't seen it lately (save for the "at check-in" option noted previously... and usually they won't allow that if you are already upgraded on a VIP).

ijgordon

This used to be available on AA several years ago, but they stopped allowing the practice. And yeah, keep in mind that the fare difference between full J and full F could easily be a few thousand $ one-way (e.g., on JFK-LHR one-way J = $4524 and F = $6586, so $2000+ difference). However, this still often ended up being cheaper than buying an upgradeable J ticket (though technically all Biz tickets were upgradeable at that point) and using the miles upgrading to F. I believe that's why AA stopped allowing it.

stratofortress

Yes, that's how my father travels. He buys a discount coach ticket, upgrades to business and then pays the fare difference. You can do it with an eVIP or miles, and it saves a few grand. Only problem is that you have the same restrictions as the cheapo coach ticket you originally bought.

JGR01

Interesting responses.

NO
Yes at time of checkin if available
Used to be able to .. but no longer
Used to be able to .. but no longer
Yes .. dad does it currently

I will add a vote for USED TO be able to .. but no longer.

Did it back in 2001 time frame but have been told repeated that it is no longer available.

That was in the olden days of the paper eVIPs .. and it took about 45minutes plus several calls to support for the agent to figure out how to re-issue the ticket. At the time they all had to do a 'phase 4' manual type ticket for the add-collect of the J to F fare. It got very complicated.

Maybe other airlines have other deals currently .. and apparently AA does randomly at checkin IF J is oversold and P not full. But not on a reserved basis as they did several years ago.

rbAA

I frequently see cash UPG offers at NRT. I have been offered, though on cheap coach UPG'd with eVP. I guess it depends on how full they are up front. At $500 to $600 OW, I still don't think it's a great deal, especially if coffins.

tom911

I've probably used over 30 systemwides to get up to business, and have never been offered an option to get into F, so I guess it does depend on things that haven't been falling into place for me

martin33

that is indeed the correct answer. one could probably even find the AA forum thread from 2001 when the practice was disallowed. by far the most popular usage was for 3-class transcon, where the J-to-F add/collect could fall well below $100 at times.

the first "vote" is describing the current last-minute-upgrades-for-sale practice, available seemingly at random on longhaul flights.

the last "vote" is either describing incredible marketing-department favor, or another airline, or a brand new world, or is in error. caveat lector.

rbAA

Tom, I can't imagine that. No OP UP's? No special treatment?

JonNYC

I'd like to see more details on how this works-- on the surface of it, it doesn't make any sense.

JDiver

I'll second Chairman Jon's motion. The details would be welcome, thank you.

JGR01

When did he get the promotion??

Are we going to have to call JonNYC GerardNYC now??

Tho I do humbly bow Sir JDiver to your corporate knowledge......